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Steamboat Springs — Responses are rolling in for the Yampa Valley Housing Authority's market demand analysis, Executive Director Donna Howell said.

The survey aims to assess what type of housing Steamboat Springs workers have, want and need. Employers who wanted paper copies for their workers received them Friday, Howell said, and the electronic link to the survey went out Wednesday.

Robert Charles Lesser & Co. is handling the information gathering.

"This next week or so is when the survey information will get back to RCLCO," Howell said. The company will invite six groups of respondents to participate in housing forums July 15 and 16 at Colorado Mountain College's Alpine Campus.

The Housing Authority expects to receive the market demand analysis report in August. The study will be combined with a housing needs assessment to paint a fuller picture of local housing needs.

"The demand analysis is for builders," said Sandy Evans Hall, Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association's executive vice president. "We will be looking at the response to this to determine the type of product as opposed to the overall need."

The survey asks questions about the housing a worker would like to have in Steamboat and what factors are important in selecting a place to live. It also asks employees to describe their current housing arrangements, income and job.

The analysis cost $150,000 and was funded by the city, Steamboat 700 developers, Routt County and other donors, Howell said. She has received approval from the Colorado Division of Housing for the needs assessment. That agency will fund the study, which Howell said would cost $53,400.

Howell expects the needs assessment to begin in August and last four months, netting results in November or December.

YVHA chose not to wait until ski season to do the study for a couple of reasons, Howell said. For one, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. is the major seasonal employer, and the company provides housing to many of its workers.

"We knew the employers who hire seasonal workers would have information for us, and that is the rental population," she said.

Also, the Housing Authority wanted to get information to residential developers as soon as possible. Those who are creating housing need to know what the community wants and needs, Howell said, as do local politicians.

"We're very busy and excited that we're going to get some very specific information related to the work force in Steamboat, because I think that's really going to guide policy as well as the development of housing," Howell said.